Monday, 24 May 2010

Greece's Million Euro Website

In response to a question posed in Parliament by LAOS deputy Kyriakos Velopoulos, Filippos Petsalnikos, the President of the Parliament, confirmed the following:

·The development of the website was financed under the Third Community Support Framework “Information Society”, and was approved under the Parliamentary presidency of MP Benaki-Psarouda and completed under the presidency of MP Sioufas.

·The total cost of the website’s development was EUR 1,011,318.89.

·There was an additional cost for “staff training and management” of EUR 48,197.39

The total costs were EUR 1,059,516.27, including VAT, of which 80% was financed by the European Union. You can see the written correspondence at the end of this post.

This latest example of egregious waste received limited coverage from mainstream press, but extensive coverage on the Greek blogosphere.

I have rarely been angrier in my life than when I first read about this in Kathimerini. The costs of the present platform are certainly not more than EUR 10,000 – 15,000 in today’s costs. Even assuming a higher price for a portal set up 4-5 years ago, the costs should not exceed EUR 20,000 – 25,000.

More than anything, this confirms my decision to wind down my company in Greece. I refuse to pay for any more of this.

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